20 January 2013

Grease-bellied Sneetch

#221 / #40

We went out again on the American River Trail. I would have worn shorts but I am trying to keep my sun exposure as low as I can with a hobby that takes me outside so often. So I wore tights. And a home-made sunsleeve arrangement (like a sawed off mock turtleneck longsleeved shirt) over my new yellow racerback camisole. Which I got grease on. Bleah.

So. I took a look at Red Leader's chainline on his Gekko. Yes, it was not working well and yes, I was able to fix it.

The light blue circle was the problem area. The piece of chain tube has a tiny bolt protruding from it. The bolt is screwed into the chain keeper flange on the idler. The flange and the bolt had parted ways.

So I unscrewed the idler, chased one washer around the parking lot, screwed the chain keeper flange back onto the bolt in the tube, then put the whole idler back together. Then took it apart and included the chain. And then we rolled away.

Well. Almost. Red Leader commented that he wanted a longer visor on his helmet, which is when I noticed that his helmet was way too far on the back of his head. So we fixed his helmet. He may still want better sun shade but it is better than it was.

But wait! We also dug out the large torque wrench and he straightened out his boom and tightened it to the max torque: 16nm.

Then we left. For real, this time.

Plenty of people on the trail, a recumbent or two and some recumbent trikes, also a handpowered one.

RL had been feeling some strains in his legs and ankle. What do you know, concentration on staying centered in the seat (instead of leaning to the right) and straightening the boom made all the difference.

I tried putting my seat back to 3/4 of fully reclined. I like it. Eventually I'll be all the way reclined. But not yet.

AND I made more than my 40 mile goal for the week: 47.6 miles. Nice weather makes a big difference. Next week I will go for 50 miles in one week.